Ramblings from the Ultimate Sports Sentimentalist

For the fourth-straight year, I will be publishing weekly November columns analyzing the conference championship races.  Bold teams have already clinched their division or conference.  Italicized teams are my predicted champions of their respective conferences/divisions at this point in time.  This list is updated through all week 10 games.

ACC Atlantic- Florida State (The Noles control their own destiny, but Clemson is waiting in the wins should FSU slip up down the stretch.  The chances for a Florida State loss aren’t good but they do have to face both of their remaining conference opponents (Virginia Tech, Maryland) on the road.)

ACC Coastal- Miami-FL (As a result of their Thursday night win over VT, the Hurricanes are firmly in the driver’s seat in the Coastal division.  They need to win two road games to clinch it, but they should be heavily favored at both Virginia and Duke.  If the Blue Devils can somehow beat Georgia Tech in Atlanta in two weeks, then the stage will likely be set for a division championship game between Miami and Duke in Durham on November 24^th.  Who woulda thunk it?)

Big 12- Kansas State (One loss would knock K-State out of the national title game, but it will take two for them to lose the Big 12 title.)

SEC East- Georgia (Very simple situation here: If Georgia wins at Auburn next Saturday, they’re in the SEC title game.  If they lose, the division belongs to Florida.)

SEC West- Alabama (All the Tide need to do clinch the division title is beat either Texas A & M next weekend OR Auburn to end the season)

Big East- Louisville (Both Louisville and Rutgers control their own destiny, and if both squads win out, we will have a de facto Big East title game on Thursday November 29th.  Cincinnati can still get in the mix though if they beat the Scarlet Knights on November 17^th.)

Big Ten Legends- Nebraska (The Huskers and Wolverines are tied atop the Legends division standings, but Nebraska owns the tiebreaker over Michigan and has the easier stretch run.)

Big Ten Leaders-Wisconsin (This may be one of the most pathetic division title races of all-time.  The top two teams in the Leaders are ineligible for the conference title, so a 3^rd place Wisconsin can clinch a berth in the conference championship game with a victory over 4^th place Indiana next Saturday at noon.  If the Hoosiers do manage to win next weekend, they would still likely have to win at Penn State and then at Purdue to clinch the division.).

Pac-12 North- Oregon (The Ducks have a one game division lead on both Stanford and Oregon State, and play both squads down the stretch.)

Pac-12 South- Southern California (UCLA has a one game lead on the Trojans right now, but Southern Cal still controls its own destiny.)

Mountain West- San Diego State (This race got a lot more interesting thanks to Boise’s shocking home loss to San Diego State.  There is now a four-way tie atop the conference standings between Fresno State, San Diego State, Boise State, and Air Force.  I am predicting that Air Force and Fresno to both lose a game down the stretch leaving SDSU and Boise atop the standings at season’s end.)

C-USA East- Central Florida (Oddly enough, the biggest obstacle standing between UCF and the conference title game is the pending NCAA sanctions which are currently on appeal.  The Golden Knights have a one game lead over ECU and also own the head to head tiebreaker over the Pirates.)

C-USA West- Tulsa  (In the preseason, I didn’t like the Golden Hurricane’s chances at winning the division because they had to play both of the other C-USA powerhouses, SMU and Houston, and on the road.  Those two games are still pending for Tulsa, but the Hurricane has built a nice two game lead for itself in case they were to drop one of their tough games down the stretch.)

MAC East- Ohio (Kent State and Bowling Green are also in the mix in this complicated three team division race where each team’s big games will come in the final few weeks of the season.  We’ll know a little bit more about where everybody stands after Kent travels to Miami-OH and Ohio hosts Bowling Green next weekend.)

MAC West- Northern Illinois (Unlike the MAC East, this division race is pretty simple.  NIU and Toledo square off in what should be a de facto division title game on Wednesday November 14^th)    

Sun Belt- UL-Monroe (Leave it to the Sun Belt to have the wildest and most convoluted conference title race in the entire county.  Arkansas State, UL-Monroe, and Middle Tennessee are currently locked in a three-way tie for first, and even though the Warhawks just suffered a shocking home loss to their intra-state rival UL-Lafayette, I am giving them the nod because they have the easiest stretch run of the group.)

WAC- Louisiana Tech (It appears that preseason favorites LA Tech and Utah State will decide the league crown with their November 17^th showdown, but dark horse San Jose State could create a three-way tie for the title if LA Tech beats Utah State before losing to the Spartans the following weekend.)